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Criminal Appeal Nos. 1108 and 1109 of 2006. Case: 1. Kanhaiya Lal & Ors., 2. State of Rajasthan Vs 1. State of Rajasthan, 2. Mangi Lal, [Alongwith Criminal Appeal Nos. 1110, 1111 and 1112 of 2006]. Supreme Court (India)

Judgment Cited in 20 Precedent Map Related
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Case NumberCriminal Appeal Nos. 1108 and 1109 of 2006
CounselFor Appellant: Sushil Kumar Jain, Puneet Jain, Anurag Gohil and Pratibha Jain, Advs. and For Respondents: Imtiaz Ahmed, Naghma Imtiaz and Milind Kumar, Advs.
JudgesK.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, JJ.
IssueIndian Penal Code - Sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 342, 427, 435, 460; Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)
Citation2013 (V) AD (SC) 101, AIR 2013 SC 1940, 2013 (3) AJR 416, 2013 (2) ALD 204 (Cri), 2013 (81) AllCC 940, 2013 (3) ALT 369 (Cri), 2013 (116) CLT 979, 2013 CriLJ 2921, JT 2013 (6) SC 497, 2013 (3) RCR 215 (Cri), 2013 (6) SCALE 242, 2013 (5) SCC 655, 2013 (2) UC 1388
Judgement DateApril 22, 2013
CourtSupreme Court (India)

Judgment:

Dipak Misra, J.

  1. The case of the prosecution depicts a macabre chain of events that occurred in the intervening night of 28th and 29th June, 2001 which eventually led to the massacre of five persons, namely, Purshottam, Ram Kumar Dhaka, Kalu Lal Mali and Lokendra Sharma, all residents of village Railgaon, and Heera Lal Meghwal, resident of Rampuria, Kota. The extermination of five lives had its genesis in an incident that had occurred sometime prior to the date of occurrence where Kishan Chand, son of Ram Narayan, Sarpanch of the village, was murdered and the father nurtured deep rooted suspicion that the deceased persons had not only masterminded a well thought out plan but also executed the same and the seeds of the unquenched anger gradually got inflamed and took the shape of revenge ultimately resulting in the extinction of the life-spark of five persons. From the uncurtaining of the gruesome events, it is manifest that on the date of the occurrence, the night slowly and intensely developed into real darkness of revenge that reigned with avenge. Revenge, the pleasure of morbid minds, knows no bounds and the accused persons, clinging to the fire of revenge, possibly thinking it to be sweetest thing to relish, marched ahead on the escalator of bitterness and the ultimate eventuate was five deaths, trial of 29 persons and conviction of 17 accused out of which six accused persons, namely, Yuvraj, Hemraj, Hansraj, Radhey Shyam, Modu Nath and Mohan were imposed death sentence and the rest 11 accused, namely, Lal Chand, Dhanpal, Kanyaiyalal, Naval, Revdi Lal, Ram Lal, Babu Lal, Mangi Lal, Ghanshyam, Radhey Shyam s/0 Prahalad, and Radhey Shyam s/o Shankar Lal, were sentenced with rigorous imprisonment of life by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track, in Sessions Case No. 27 of 2002. Be it noted, the rest of the accused persons were acquitted of the charges.

  2. As is demonstrable, all the accused persons were sent up for trial for offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 302, 342, 427, 435 and 460 read with 149 IPC. Filtering the unnecessary details, the facts which are necessitous to be stated for disposal of these appeals are that on 28.6.2001, about 5.00 p.m., Purshottam, brother of the informant, Ram Kumar Dhakad, Kalu Lal Mali, Lokendra Sharma, and Heera Lal Meghwal had come on two motorcycles to the house of Purshottam and no sooner had they arrived in the village than Ram Narayan, Mohan Lal, Yuvraj, Hansraj, Lalchand, Dhanpal, Kanhaiya Lal, Naval, Revdi Lal, Hemraj, Radhey Shyam s/o Gopal, Bhojraj, Ramesh Chand, Ram Singh, Babu Lal Meena, Mangilal, Ghanshyam, Radhey Shyam s/o Prahalad, Modulal, Radhey Shyam s/o Shankar Lal, Jagdish, Shambhu Dayal, Amar Lal and Sita Ram along with 15-20 others came being armed with Gandasis, Swords, Sabals and sticks. They surrounded the house of Purshottam who was in the house along with children. The accused persons scaled the house of Purshottam and started pelting stones as a consequence of which the roof sheets and the tiles of the house of Purshottam were broken. Purshottam and his four other companions jumped the common wall situate in between the houses of Purshottam and Radhey Shyam, brother of Purshottam, and stayed in one room of the informant. As the evening progressed, the evil designs became more animated and the deadly desires sprang into action and at midnight, the accused persons took the informant, his wife Badribai, mother Panabai and Nirmala Bai, wife of Purshottam, and made them sit in the thatched roof of one Prabhulal Meena. Almost after half an hour, the relatives of Ram Narayan Gujjar, Sarpanch of the said village, came in a jeep along with 15-20 persons in front of the house of the informant, broke open the door, entered the house and, in the house itself, inflicted blows with Swords, Gandasis and sticks, as a result of which Kalu Lal Mali, Lokendra Sharma and Heera Lal Meghwal breathed their last inside the house. The accused dragged Purshottam and Ram Kumar outside and assaulted them with Gandasis and swords on their heads, faces, hands and feet and, eventually, those two succumbed to their injuries. They took both the motorcycles in the passage and burnt the same and, after the inhumane and barbaric act, left the scene.

  3. The FIR, as is perceptible from the material brought on record, was not lodged immediately but was lodged at 6.45 a.m. on 29.6.2001. During investigation, the investigating agency prepared the site plan, got the autopsy done in respect of the dead bodies, seized the blood stained clothes, recorded the statements of the witnesses and, on the basis of the information furnished by the accused persons, while they were in custody, recovered the weapons used in the commission of the crime and, after following the other formalities of investigation, submitted the charge-sheets on different dates before the Judicial Magistrate, Digod, who, in turn, committed the matter to the Court of Session. After committal of the case to the Court of Session, the learned trial Judge, on 3.4.2002, framed charges under Sections 147, 427, 435, 148, 302, 460 and 342 IPC and in respect of 435/149 IPC against accused numbers 1, 5-9, 11, 12, 16, 21, 23, 24 and 26. As far as the other three sets of accused persons are concerned, almost similar charges were framed on 21.09.2002. The accused persons denied their involvement in the crime, pleaded innocence and claimed to be tried.

  4. In order to substantiate the offences against the accused persons, the prosecution examined 45 witnesses, got number of documents exhibited and various material objects marked. The accused persons in their defence examined 15 witnesses.

  5. The learned trial Judge formulated four questions, namely, whether the accused in furtherance of the common object caused the death of the deceased persons and assaulted the other persons; whether all of them by throwing stones on the house of Purshottam and burning the Motorcycles in possession of the deceased persons committed mischief; whether the accused persons with common object to commit murder of the deceased persons committed lurking trespass into the house of Radhey Shyam in the night; and whether the offences were committed by all the accused persons. The learned trial Judge addressed the questions one to three, as formulated by him, in a composite manner and, appreciating the evidence on record, came to hold that the accused Mohan Lal, Yuvraj, Hansraj, Hemraj, Radhey Shyam s/o Gopal and Modu Nath were guilty of the offences under Sections 148, 427, 342, 460 and 302 IPC and, accordingly, convicted them to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.500/-, two years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.500/-, one year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.500/-, ten years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.2000/- and death sentence respectively with further stipulation of consequences in default of payment of fine respectively. Accused Lal Chand, Revdi Lal, Ghanshyam and Radhey Shyam, s/o Prahlad, were convicted for offences punishable under Sections 148, 427, 342, 460 and 302/149 IPC and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years and a fine of Rs.500/-, two years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.500/-, one year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.500/-, ten years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.2000/- and life imprisonment and a fine of Rs.2000/- respectively with the consequences enumerated in case of default of payment of fine respectively. Accused Dhanpal, Kanhaiya Lal, Naval, Ram Lal, Babu Lal, Mangi Lal, Radheysham and four others were found guilty of the same offences and imposed various sentences with a default clause. The maximum sentence was imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs.2000/- under Section 302/149 IPC. The rest of the accused stood acquitted.

  6. At this juncture, it is worth mentioning that Ram Narayan, Sarpanch of the village Railgaon, who was sent up for trial, expired during the pendency of the trial and, accordingly, the trial was closed against him.

  7. The accused appellants preferred seven criminal appeals, namely, Criminal Appeal Nos. 464 of 2003, 421 of 2003, 621 of 2003, 622 of 2003, 670 of 2003, 474 of 2003 and 520 of 2003. The State represented its case in Death Reference No. 1 of 2003, but did not question the defensibility of the acquittal recorded against 11 other accused persons. The accused-appellants before the High Court assailed the conviction in respect of all the offences and the...

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